Israeli Foreign Minister and the head of Yisrael Beiteinu Party, Avigdor Lieberman, lashed out at Israel's Arab citizens, Sunday, threatening to cut their heads off with an axe.

"Those who are with us deserve everything, but those who are against us deserve to have their heads chopped off with an axe," Lieberman said during an election rally in the western city of Herzliya, according to Al Ray correspondence (Andalou).

Meanwhile, he added that there was no reason for Umm el-Fahm, an Arab city in northern Israel, to continue to be part of his country.

Born in Moldova, Lieberman is one of the only foreign ministers in the world who does not live in territory officially recognized as his own country. Originally under suspicion over charges of money-laundering and bribery, Lieberman was formally indicted in December of 2012, on lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Israel took control of Umm el-Fahm in 1949, in the light of the Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan. It is the third largest Arab city within Israel, as far as population size is concerned.

During Sunday's rally, Lieberman said that those who raised the black flag of what is called the "Nakba Day" in mourning over the establishment of Israel, did not deserve to belong to the state of Israel.

"I am quite willing to donate them [the people who raise the black flags] to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas," Lieberman said. "It would be my pleasure," he added.

During last year's Nakba Day solidarity protests, two Palestinian teens were killed by Israeli soldiers for no apparent reason, raising only token concern within the international spectrum.

He called for including Arab states and Israel's Arab citizens in any settlement with the Palestinians.

Lieberman said Israel should seize the opportunity of the presence of similar points of view with Arab states, even without mentioning what these points of view were about.

He said there could not be a bilateral settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, calling for a regional settlement that included Arab states and Israel's Arab citizens.

"The Palestinians know what is being said about them now in the Arab world," Lieberman said. He added that some Arab states believed that real threats came from the Palestinian faction Hamas and the militant group Daesh, not from Israel.

UN Human Rights Council hopes to postpone publication of report in war crimes committed during Israel and Hamas summer conflict. UN investigators looking at possible war crimes committed by all sides during the Gaza war last year have asked to postpone publication of their report from March until June to consider further evidence received, a UN statement said on Monday.Their report on violations by Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants in Gaza during the July-August conflict was due to be issued to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 23. In a statement, Council President Joachim Ruecker said that he backed the request for a deferral to June 2015 to finalize a comprehensive report by the team of investigators. The 47-nation Council is expected to approve the postponement before its ongoing main annual session ends on March 27.

The commission of inquiry's former chairman, William Schabas, stepped down last month after Israeli allegations of bias due to consultancy work he did for the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel wants the report shelved. Mary McGowan Davis, who succeeded Schabas as chair, said in a letter to Council president Ruecker, also made public on Monday: "In this context, the Commission must analyze with the utmost objectivity the large number of additional submissions and documents received over the past few weeks from both sides, relating to the fact-finding dimension of our mandate."

Some 2,256 Palestinians were killed during the latest Gaza conflict, of whom 1,563 were civilians including 538 children, while 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians died, UN special rapporteur Makarim Wibisono said in a separate report last week. He called on Israel to investigate killings of civilians.

The Palestine Liberation Organization – Central Council on its 27th meeting held in Ramallah, Palestine, at the Presidential Headquarters (Al – Muqata'), between March 4th – 5th, analyzed the current political situation given the ongoing Israeli violations and crimes against the people of Palestine as well as the lack of action from significant segments of the international community. The following major resolutions were made:-Israel, the occupying power in Palestine, must assume all its responsibilities in accordance with its obligations under international law.-To suspend all forms of security coordination given Israel's systematic and ongoing noncompliance with its obligations under signed agreements, including its daily military raids throughout the State of Palestine, attacks against our civilians and properties.-To boycott all Israeli products and not only those coming from Israeli settlements. Israel must pay the price for its refusal to assume its responsibilities under international law, including the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination.-To reject all attempts to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Palestine will not legitimize the racist policies conducted by Israel against the Palestinian people, both within Israel and the State of Palestine, just as we reject the Islamization of the region adopted by all extremist entities.-To strengthen national reconciliation in accordance with relevant agreements is a top priority in order to facilitate the reconstruction of Gaza which suffers from an illegal, and prolonged blockade by Israel, the occupying power.-To hold general presidential and parliamentary elections, including the Palestine National Council, as soon as possible.-To support the Palestinian diplomatic initiatives, including accession to international treaties and organizations, while insisting that the international community assume its responsibility to hold Israel accountable for its systematic violations of international law.-The Council expresses its full support for the Higher National Committee for the International Criminal Court (ICC).-The PLO, in coordination with the Arab League, will make use of its right to request from the United Nations Security Council to set a deadline to end the Israeli occupation on all territories occupied on June 4th 1967 as a step towards full sovereignty and independence of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and honoring the rights of refugees in accordance with UNGA Resolution 194.-The Palestinian National Authority was the outcome of the national struggle of the Palestinian people to move from occupation to independence. Its institutions should be maintained and must not be dissolved.-The PLO Executive Committee will execute all resolutions made by the PLO Central Council, and will report on the progress of the implementation during the next meeting of the Central Council.

PLO's Central Council meets in Ramallah to discuss diplomatic steps, security coordination with Israel; Palestinian president claims Israel offered to release tax funds if PA dropped ICC suit.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of "gangsterism" on Wednesday over its decision to withhold the transfer of more than $100 million a month in tax revenues it collects on the Palestinians' behalf.The comments were made when the PLO's Central Council convened in Ramallah on Wednesday morning to hold deliberations on policy ahead of the Israeli elections on March 17. "How are they allowed to take away our money? Are we dealing with a state or with a gangster?" he asked a gathering of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central council, its second-highest decision-making body. The council discussed the security coordination with Israeli authorities and potential diplomatic steps, including the ongoing efforts at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Central Council, led by Salim Zanoun, has 124 members from the West Bank, Gaza, and abroad. At the opening of the conference, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas comprehensively addressed recent developments in the conflict.The committee met after weeks of intense American pressure on Abbas – in part to assure the Palestinian Authority does not take any hasty measures which could affect the election in Israel. Consequently, Abbas refrained from addressing the security cooperation with Israel during his speech. Abbas said the Palestinians received an offer for Israel to release the PA's frozen tax funds if they backed out of their efforts at the ICC in The Hague, but that the offer was rebuffed. "The international court in The Hague is the only place in which we can raise our complaints over the occupation. They told us that if we do not go to The Hague they will return our money. We refuse to trade our bid at The Hague for tax money," he said. The Palestinian president claimed Israel was withholding 1.8 billion shekels. Abbas said the Palestinians would resume the negotiations with Israel if construction in the settlements is frozen and security detainees are released. He claimed Israel has not honored its commitments with the Palestinians. "We must examine how to maintain the PA and whether all parties commit to the agreements and not only one side." The PA president stressed the Palestinians would not surrender but would not resort to violence either. "A peaceful, popular resistance is our way." Abbas claimed Israel paused all progress because of the "excuse" that election was near. "We do not intervene in the Israeli elections and we are willing to negotiate with any person who the people of Israel elect. We do not care who wins." However, he praised the alliance between the Arab lists and wished them success on March 17.

He then reiterated that the Palestinians were committed to the peace process and vehemently opposed terrorism.

"The recognition by parliaments in European countries does not mean we no longer wish to negotiate or are avoiding talks," he said, and called on countries across the world to continue recognizing Palestinian sovereignty. Abbas briefly addressed the Islamic State terror group, condemning the murderous acts of the jihadi collective, including the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot and the killing of 21 Egyptians in Libya.

The Arab League on Wednesday called on secretary-general of the UN Ban Ki-moon and international child rights organizations to immediately intervene to curb Israel's crimes and violations against the Palestinians, especially the children. The department of Palestine and the occupied Arab territories at the Arab League said in a report that Palestinian children at blooming ages get either killed, kidnapped or abused by Israeli soldiers every day in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Its report pointed out that the killing of 16-year-old Mohamed Sanqurat last year in east Jerusalem led to the discovery that the Israeli police had used black sponge-tipped bullets to suppress angry Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948 occupied lands protesting Israel's last war on Gaza.

"Secret orders had been issued for the Israeli police to use the lethal black sponge-tipped bullets against Palestinian protesters in violation of the law and without providing the policemen with standards and guidelines on how to use them," the report stated.

The report affirmed that the Association for Civil Rights in Israel had documented four cases of children having been seriously wounded after being shot with sponge-tipped bullets.

It added that the legal adviser of the Israeli police in Jerusalem, Michael Frankenberg, also admitted that the Israeli police had used this kind of bullets about six months ago without setting usage guidelines.

This type of bullets are actually very lethal and cause serious physical damage to the victim upon impact.

Nabil Shaath, member of the Executive Committee of the Fateh movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinian National Authority (P.N.A) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), intend to appeal a ruling made by a US Court, and said the Palestinians will head to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Shaath said that the Manhattan Federal Court, which held the P.N.A (P.A.) and the PLO liable for what it called Palestinian attacks, in six bombings and shooting incidents that took place between the years 2002 and 2004, made a politically motivated, baseless ruling.

He added that the U.S. court has no jurisdiction, or legal stand, to be looking in such cases, and said if the plaintiffs really had a case against the PLO and the P.A, they would have headed to the International Criminal Court, (ICC) instead of suing them in an American court that has no jurisdiction.

Talking to the Al-Ghad Al Arabi newspaper, Shaath said the Palestinian National Authority, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, have decided to head to the International Criminal Court to counter this outrageous ruling, and to bring charges against Israel for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people.

He added that the P.N.A, and the PLO would have also filed charges in U.S. courts, but the U.S. legal system does not recognize them.

The ruling against the P.A. and the PLO, known as “Sokolow VS PLO case," was made by a 12-member jury in the Manhattan Federal Court, who held the PLO and the PNA liable for six bombings and shooting incidents that took place between the years 2002 and 2004 in Jerusalem.

The ruling orders the PLO to pay $218.5 Million to “victims killed in attacks more than a decade ago.

Autopsy results for a young Palestinian killed by Israeli forces near Bethlehem, early Tuesday, show that he was shot in the upper body at close range, a forensic expert told Ma'an News Agency. Sabri al-Aloul said that the autopsy results show that 19-year-old Jihad al-Jaafari bled to death after being hit with an M16 bullet that penetrated his body through the left shoulder and struck his lungs, before exiting and causing severe bleeding in his arteries and around his spine.

The killing was "similar to an execution" because he was shot from very close range, al-Aloul said.

The autopsy was performed between 10:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and adhered to international standards, he added.

He further stated that the autopsy was significant, given that the report could be used to hold Israel accountable in international courts.

Al-Jafaari's father, Shehada, had called for the autopsy in order to document what he described as Israeli crimes and violations against Palestinians.

The teen was killed early Tuesday when Israeli soldiers were conducting arrest raids in Duheisha refugee camp.

IDF advocate general Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni says possible investigation by the International Criminal Court into Gaza war to be dealt with through 'full and thorough' Israeli investigations.The IDF's chief legal adviser said on Thursday that he is not concerned about a possible investigation by the International Criminal Court into Israel's conduct during last year's Gaza war. Israel's own internal probes are sufficient, said advocate general Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni.The Palestinians recently joined the Netherlands-based court and have threatened to press war crimes charges against Israel there. But, according to the court's founding statute, any robust internal investigation could prevent an outside one by the court."I am not concerned because I think I am doing my job," Efroni told journalists on the sidelines of a conference about the laws of armed conflict. He said the quality and professionalism of the investigations being carried out were "sufficient enough" to stave off a probe by the international court. Efroni has opened 15 criminal investigations into separate incidents from the 50-day war that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Two probes have been closed because Palestinians who had lodged complaints did not want to testify. The military declined to say which cases were closed.Israel launched the operation in Gaza last summer in what it said was a mission to halt relentless rocket fire by Hamas militants. Israel has defended the operation as an act of self-defense and blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian death toll, saying the militant group used residential areas for cover. But critics have pointed to the heavy Palestinian civilian death toll and questioned whether Israel's response was proportionate. The international court could also investigate Hamas' conduct during the war.

Israel has also come under fire from critics who say it fails to thoroughly investigate its military operations or prosecute soldiers for abuses. Israel says it does investigate its actions, although those inquiries rarely lead to criminal punishment. Following a similar operation in Gaza in early 2009, the army convicted four soldiers on various charges, including looting, improper use of a weapon and life-endangering conduct. The most serious sentence was a three-and-a-half month prison term. Efroni called the Israeli investigations "full and thorough."

The Palestinian ministry of information strongly denounced Israel's channel 7 for fabricating claims about some of the journalists that had been killed by the Israeli army during the last war on the Gaza Strip, and described its report as "misleading."

Israel's channel 7 claimed in a recent report that eight of the journalists who were killed during Israel's last military operation in Gaza were working for Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The information ministry said in a press release on Sunday that the channel's claims about the journalists was an exposed attempt by the Israeli government to shirk its responsibility for the crimes its army had committed against the journalists in Gaza.

The ministry underlined that all Israeli crimes against the journalists in the last war were documented in reports issued by international and local organizations, especially the International Federation of Journalists.

It said that Israel's attempt to deflect attention from its crimes by questioning the number of slain journalists and their professional activities could not deceive the UN probe committee or the international community.

“Ask your predecessors on the dread stirred up by al-Qassam Brigades in the hearts and minds of the Israeli soldiers,” senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said addressing Israel’s new army chief Yoav Galant in Sunday.

“Gaza has always heroically confronted the Israeli occupation enemy,” a written statement by Zahhar read.

“The Israeli officials have to bear in mind that Gaza is making many leaps forward in terms of its resistance knack. No attempt at turning Palestinians into Israel’s quarry shall see the day,” he vowed.

Earlier, Israel’s newly-appointed army chief Major General Yoav Galant vowed that, under his command, another offensive will hit the blockaded Gaza Strip at the soonest time possible.

Commenting on Galant’s threats, the Hamas official said: “The UN Security Council has to take a tougher line against Israel’s war crimes and its refusal to meet an international fact-finding committee to investigate war crimes.”

“The UN has to be more judicious and objective as regards the Palestinian cause. Isn’t it enough that it has been propping up the Israeli occupation since the Palestinian Nakba (usurpation of Palestine) . . . . The UN has no longer become fair in backing the victims. It rather stands by the executioner,” he added.

Zahhar further stated that threats to invade Gaza were voiced and exploited by various Israeli officials as part of their propaganda campaigns before the upcoming general elections.

In an investigation conducted by Associated Press, it was revealed that 89% of victims killed in the Israeli offensive conducted in Gaza, this past summer, were civilians.

Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency reports that, according to the investigation, 60% of 844 people killed were children, women and elderly, while only 11% of them were militants.

The investigation reviewed 247 raids out of more than 5,000 raids launched on Gaza, according to witnesses testimonies and field visits to bombed buildings.

The youngest victim was only 4 days old, and the oldest was 95 years. 280 victims were under 16, including 19 infants. 108 children were under 5 years of age.

The investigation also pointed out that 83 raids killed 3 or more members of one family, while only 96 people were armed, 11% of the total number of victims. The other 240 victims were unarmed men aged between 16-59.

Al Ray notes that the investigation did not include the victims who were killed by the artillery shelling, sniping or field operations, as was the case in the eastern areas of Gaza during the ground incursion.